The Lying Game [Hardcover]

Sara Shepard (Author)

Book Description

Release date: December 7, 2010 | Series: The Lying Game (Book 1)

I had a life anyone would kill for.

Then someone did.

The worst part of being dead is that there’snothing left to live for. No more kisses. Nomore secrets. No more gossip. It’s enoughto kill a girl all over again. But I’m about toget something no one else does—an encoreperformance, thanks to Emma, the long-losttwin sister I never even got to meet.

Now Emma’s desperate to know whathappened to me. And the only way to figureit out is to be me—to slip into my old lifeand piece it all together. But can she laughat inside jokes with my best friends? Convincemy boyfriend she’s the girl he fell inlove with? Pretend to be a happy, carefreedaughter when she hugs my parents goodnight? And can she keep up the charade,even after she realizes my murderer iswatching her every move?

From Sara Shepard, the #1 New York Timesbestselling author of the Pretty Little Liars books,comes a riveting new series about secrets, lies, andkiller consequences.

Let the lying game begin.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Identical twins who have never met, a mean-girl crowd with more money than morals, a stoic foster kid, and a beyond-the-grave narrator all propel readers into a roller-coaster ride of physical and emotional challenges in this first book in a new series. Foster kid Emma, two weeks shy of her eighteenth birthday, discovers she has a twin named Sutton and runs away from Las Vegas to meet her in Tucson. Sutton, however, seems to have been killed during the making of a snuff film. Narrating from the afterlife, Sutton cannot remember exactly who killed her, or much else about her life, as she watches her living twin try to solve the mystery. Shepard does a fast and thorough job of getting readers to suspend disbelief and go along for an adventure through a nasty underbelly of adolescent peer pressure and rebellion. Only toward the end does it become apparent that the platform is being prepared for the launch of a forthcoming second volume. Grades 9-12. --Francisca Goldsmith

Review

“The Lying Game is a stay–up–past–your–bedtime type of thriller…full of amazingly believable plot twists and turns.” (Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA) (Starred Review) )

“A fun and fast–moving mystery…[readers] will race through the pages as Emma pieces together clues and will have plenty to ponder as they anticipate the next installment.” (Publishers Weekly )

“A thrilling mystery with just the right doses of romance and danger.” (School Library Journal )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: HarperTeen; First Edition edition (December 7, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061869708
• ISBN-13: 978-0061869709
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.9 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (131 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #385,826 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I am originally from outside Philadelphia, and PRETTY LITTLE LIARS is based on my experiences there...kind of. Sort of a hyperbolic version of them. Plus some random stuff thrown in.

Well, after many years of avoiding the area, I've moved back to suburban Philadelphia again. I spend most of my time eating chips and cereal straight out of the bag. I am also a proud hypochondriac. I took out my tongue piercing when I was eighteen because I thought it was giving me a sinus infection. And I often think I have a brain tumor when it's really just a headache.

Amazon Author Rankbeta 

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#9 in Books > Teens

#9 in Books > Teens

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

41 of 44 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Fun trashy teen lit December 7, 2010

By S. Power TOP 100 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

In the Lying game Emma finds herself stepping into the life of Sutton, her long lost (and dead) twin sister after seeing a video of a snuff film starring Sutton placed on the internet. The novel is narrated by the dead Sutton (who doesn't remember much of her life) who watches as Emma tries to find out who killed her. The matter is complicated by The Lying Game which is popular with Sutton and her friends which involves cruel pranks that often include making the victim feel as though she is the victim of a crime.

The Lying Game is by the author of Pretty Little Liars which is one of the novels that has been packaged by HarperTeen for multiple media distribution. The book reads like a TV show (and the TV show is already in pre-production) and is a very entertaining and fast read. The mystery is intriguing but does not resolve at the end of the book (all of the characters are still suspects) there is a bit of resolution regarding a clue but the reader is still left a bit unsatisfied with the ending. The back cover (of my ARC) presents the novel as part Pretty Little Liars and part Lovely bones and honestly that's giving far more credit than the novel should get. The book is fun and trashy but can't be compared with a novel like The Lovely Bones (although if you can use this to convince your child that she should read The Lovely Bones then go for it).

Appropriateness: This is one of those books that will give conservative parents lots of worry. There is plenty of sex talk (although no actual sex), lots of drinking (complete with drinking games), criminal activity, mean girl bullying and even a bit of drug use. As is common with this genre book there is also an obsessive amount of "label dropping" as the author describes all the clothing with super-high end labels (even Emma as a foster child is obsessed with designer clothes). However, the characters in the book in no way appear normal (they're super rich) and Emma quite frequently looks down on their bad behavior. I wouldn't give the book to a high reading elementary schooler but if your middle grade reader wants to read the book it would be good to use it as an opening to have discussions of how to deal with situations (such as being at a party where everyone is participating in a drinking game) that they may find themselves in when they're older.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting teen read December 22, 2010

By Stormi Johnson VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

Since I have never read The Pretty Little Liars series this is my first Sara Shepard book. I wasn't really sure if I was going to like it at first, but then I got hooked into the nasty little lying game.

Sutton was a rich girl, the girl who had it all, but some one killed her. Emma is a poor foster kid who finds out about Sutton and thinks she is going to go and meet her long lost twin sister, but gets herself thrown into the lying game.

When Emma arrives in Tuscan she was expecting to meet her sister, but instead she was kidnapped by 'Suttons' friends and taken to a party. Emma has no clue what is going on but later she gets a note telling her Sutton is dead and that she needs to keep playing the role of Sutton or she will be the next one to die. Emma tries to be Sutton, but she finds out really quick that she is nothing like Sutton. While pretending to be Sutton Emma tries to find out what has happened to Sutton.

What Emma finds out is that she is part of a evil bunch of friends. They play pranks on others as well as their only little circle of friends. There is Charlotte (who is not over the guy that is/was going out with Sutton), Madeline (whose brother is missing, what is it that Sutton did to him?), Laurel (Sutton's sister, she has a crush on Thayer, the missing boy), Lillianna and Gabriella (The Twitter Twins, they are sort of in the circle of friends but not allowed membership into The Lying Game).

Emma is thinking she has got herself into a bit more than she can handle when it comes to this group of friends and she also thinks they all have a motive for murder. Emma also doesn't have the same taste in boys because she is not really that fond of Garrett, Suttons boyfriend. She likes Ethan, he is more of a loner like herself and she gets him more than she does anybody else.

The Lying Game really had me wrapped up into the whole deception and drama of everything that happens in the book. The more Emma learns about Sutton, the more she wonders what Sutton has really gotten herself into. Its sort of like who are these people really?? Why would anyone want to be a part of this group of people and who really killed Sutton? I couldn't wait to get to the end but then I should have known it was going to be part of a series. :( I don't mind series, but I hate waiting to find out what happens.

I am sure if your a fan of Pretty Little Liars then you will probably like The Lying Game. I would recommend it to those who like books like this. I really enjoyed it more than I thought I would and can't wait for the next book to come out.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A wickedly entertaining read December 23, 2010

By Fiktshun

Format:Kindle Edition

Sutton Mercer is a bad girl. Or at least she was. Until someone killed her. Someone she knew. A friend? Her sister Laurel? Clearly she messed with the wrong person and now the only hope she has to find out the truth is with Emma, an identical twin sister she never knew she had. One she hadn't even met until after she died.

But for Emma to discover just what happened she'll have to fool everyone into believing that she is Sutton. Emma, a girl who doesn't like to drink or to lie, and who has faced hardships that Sutton never had, will have to step into her Marc Jacobs strappy shoes and become the ultimate "mean girl" in order to uncover the identity of Sutton's killer.

And if Sutton could give her one piece of advice from the grave it would be to: "Always sleep with one eye open. Never take anything for granted. Your best friends might just be your enemies."

The Lying Game is a wickedly entertaining read. Almost all of the characters have a dark side and have the potential to have played a role in Sutton's death - including the recently deceased Sutton Mercer herself. And as the story unfolds the mystery continues to grow, as with every question that is answered, a new one takes its place.

The story moves quickly first page to last. And author Sara Shepard's clever use of the first-person narrative allows readers to get a peek at what's happening with both Sutton and Emma throughout - the only drawback being that it is easy to get caught up in Emma's story and the switch to Sutton's point of view can come as a bit of a surprise.